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(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 1.

I'. I'. NICKEL.

1 DINBGT ACTING ENGINE. No. 465,676. Patented Deo. 22,1891.

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F.. P. NICKEL. A DIEEoT ACTING ENGINE.

No. 465,676. Patented Dec. 22, 1891.

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NrrE STATES ATENT OEEicE.

FRANZ F. NICKEL, OF BUFFALO, NET YORK.

DIRECT-ACTING ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 465,676, dated December22, 1891. Application `iiled September l0, 1891. Serial No. 405,258. (Nomodel.)

To ctZZ whom it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, FRANZ F. NlOKEL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo,'

lowing is a specification.

This'inven'tion relates to a direct-acting engine employing acompensating device which acts in opposition to the main piston duringthe iirst part of the stroke and in conjunction therewith during thelast part of the stroke, thereby permitting the steam-supply to the maincylinder to be cutoff after apart of the stroke has been made, thestroke being completed by the expansive force of the steam in thecylinder, aided by the gradually-increasing assistance oii'cred by thecompensating device. Heretofore this has been accomplished byoscillating compensating cyli nders, having pistons connected with thepiston-rod of the main steam-piston; but this construction containsnumerous moving parts which soon become worn and require frequentrepairing. It has also been proposed to employ a stationary cylinderarranged at right angles to the main steam-cylinder and having itspiston connected with the piston of the main steam-cylinder by a lilik;but this causes an irregular movement of the main piston.

The object of my' invention is to provide mechanism whereby the angle ofthe rods connecting the main piston-rod with the piston of a stationarycompensating cylinder is controlled at different parts of the stroke soas to vary the effectiveness of these rods, thereby causing the engineto move with a more uniform and regular stroke.

In the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets, Figure lis aside elevation, partly in section, of one end of adirect-actingengine-cylinder provided with my improved compensating device. Fig. 2 isa vertical cross-section thereof in line @c x, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is afragmentary horizontal section in line y y, Fig. l. Fig. e is afragmentary elevation representing a modified construction of mycompensating device.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several iigures.

A represents the end of the horizontal cylinder of a direct-actingengine, and a is the main piston-rod, which passes through astuffing-box a inthe head a2 of said cylinder.

B represents a cross-head secured to the outer end of the mainpiston-rod and provided on opposite sides with forwardly-extendingcheeks o Z1.

O represents a horizontal guide-frame, in which the cross-head of themain piston-rod is guided. This guide-frame consists of parallel bars cc', having guideways which. bear, respectively, against the upper andlower sides of the cross-head and are secured at their inner ends to thehead of the cylinder and are connected at their outer ends by a verticalbar c2.

D represents the compensating cylinder, which is arranged at rightangles to the main cylinder below the horizontal guide-frame and mid-Waybetween the ends of the reciprocating movement of the main cross-head.

d represents the piston of the compensating cylinder, and CZ itspiston-rod, which passes upwardly through a stuffing-box cl2'.

d* is a pipe connected with the lower end of the compensating cylinder,whereby steam, water, air, or other fluid under constant pressure isadmitted into the compensating cylinder below the piston. 0 5

represents a tank arranged underneath the compensating cylinder andreceiving the fluid which is expelled from the upper part of thecompensating cylinder through a pipe d when the compensating pistonmoves upwardly. The tank di serves to make the Whole arrangementadjustable. A pipe (Z7 supplies it with part of the motor-fluid untilthat pressure is obtained for which the safetyvalve (ZS is set. Thispressure acts upon the upperside of the compensating piston inopposition to the pressure of the motor-fluid. The difference betweenthese two pressures is then the eifective pressure. By adjusting theweight on the safety-valve the pressure in the tank, and with it theeffective pressure, will be changed.

The upper end of the compensating piston rod is guided in its verticalmovements by vertical guide-frames E, arranged on opposite sides of saidrod and extending from the lower bars c of the horizontal guide-frame tothe upper head of the compensating cylinder.

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These guide-frames E are provided with vertical ways e, which receivesliding bearings or blocks e', secured by a transverse pin e? to across-head e3, formed at the upper end of the compensating piston-rod.

F represents connecting-rods, whereby the cross-heads of the mainpiston-rod and the compensating piston rod' are connected. Theseconnecting-rods are arranged on opposite sides of the horizontal andvertical guideframes, and are pivoted with their lower ends to oppositeends of the pin c2, passing through the cross-head of the compensatingpiston-rod.

g g represent Vertical guideways formed in the cheeks b b of the maincross-head, and g g are sliding bearings or blocks arranged in saidways. The upper ends of the connecting-rods are pivoted to these slidingblocks g by a pin g2, passing transversely through these blocks.

H represents a longitudinal guide rib formed on the under side of theupper bar c of the horizontal guide-frame and provided on its. Linderside with an undulating or serpentine bearing-face 71 whereby theinclination of the connecting-rods E is controlled, so as to produce auniform movement of the main piston during its entire stroke.

I represents an anti-friction roller, which is journaled upon the pint2, between the sliding blocks g', and bears against the undulating faceof the rib H, which extends over the entire distance through which theroller reciprocates. The undulating surface rises gradually at thebeginning from the normal straight line in which the main piston-rodreciprocates to about one-sixth of the stroke, then descends graduallyuntil it crosses the normal line at about one-third of the stroke, thenpasses below the normal line until it reaches the middle of the stroke,then rises and crosses the normal line at about twothirds of the stroke,and continues to rise above said line to about five-sixths of thestroke, then descends again, and terminates in the normal line at theend of the stroke. The curvature on the front and rear sides of themiddle of the undulating surface is identical, so that the effect uponthe roller and the connectin g-rods in traveling over the same is alikein both the forward and backward stroke of the main piston.

Assuming the parts to be in the position represented in Fig. l, theengine-piston in commencing its stroke travels from left to right.During the first part of the stroke the power developed in the mainsteam-cylinder is resisted by the pressure of the fluid in thecompensating cylinder against the lower side of the compensating piston,which lresistance is transmitted to the main piston-rod by theconnecting-rods. The parts are so proportioned that the opposition ofthe compensating cylin der is greatest at the beginning of the stroke.As the main piston-rod advances the angle of the connecting-rodsgradually decreases, and

the latter are thereby rendered less effective in their opposition tothe forward movement of the main piston-rod. Then the engine has madeone-half of its stroke, the connectin g-arms are brought into a verticalposition at right angles to the main piston-rod, and thus offer noresistance to the main pistonrod. its stroke the operation is reversedand the pressure upon the compensating piston aids the main piston-rodand offers gradually-increasing assistance to the end of the stroke,owing to the constantly-changing angle of the connecting-rods in favorof the compensating cylinder. During the return stroke of the engine theoperation is precisely the same.

It has been found in practice that the angle which the connecting-rodsassume at the beginning of the stroke causes them to offer too great aresistance to the main pistonrod, while near the middle of the strokethe As the main piston-rod proceeds uponv straightening of theconnecting-rods causes the main piston-rod to obtain too great aleverage over the compensating cylinder, thereby producing an irregularstroke of the engine. This irregular action of the compensating cylinderis avoided by the undulating face 7i, against which the roller at theupper ends of the connecting-rods bears, and which causes the anglebetween the connecting-rod and the direction in which its upper endmoves to be different from what it would b e if the roller or the upperpoint of connection traveled in a straight line.

Again assuming the parts to be in the position represented in Fig. l,the upper ends of the connecting-rods are carried upward during thefirst sixth of the stroke by the roller which travels against theupwardlycurved portion at the beginning of the undulating face, therebyshifting the angle of the connecting-rods into a position in which they,

are less effective in resisting the forward movement of the mainpiston-rod. As the main pistomrod proceeds the upper ends of theconnecting-rods are carried downwardly until they are in the normal lineat about one-third of the stroke. As the main pistonrod approaches themiddle of the stroke, the upper ends of the connecting-rods are carriedbelow the normal line, which compels the main piston to force thecompensating piston down a greater distance than it would if the upperends of the connecting-rods traveled on the normal line. After the mainpiston has passed the middle of its stroke the operation is reversed andthe upper ends of the connecting-rods travel upwardly on the in` clineof the undulating face, thereby rendering the compensating cylinder moreeffective than it would be if the upper ends of said rods traveled inthe normal line. At about IOO IIO

two-thirds of the stroke of the main pistonv rod the upper ends of theconnecting-rods cross the normal line and then pass above the same toabout ve-sixths of the stroke, after which the upper' ends of theconnecting-rods are again carried downwardly and finally reach thenormal line at the end of the stroke.

By carrying the upper ends of the connecting-rods downwardly toward theend of the stroke the effectiveness of the compensating cylinder doesnot increase as fast as it would if the movement took place in thenormall line. By carrying the upper ends of the connecting-rod above andbelow the normal rectilinear line in which the main piston-rodreciprocates, the advantage which the main piston-rod and compensatingcylinder gain overeach other at different parts of the stroke is somodilied as to produce a uniform movement of the main piston during itsentire stroke. During the return stroke from right to leftthe angle ofthe connecting-rods is modified in the same manner as in the forwardstroke. As different forms of directacting engines will presentdifferent conditions, the undulating face may be varied to meet therequirements of each particular case.

As represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the upper ends of theconnecting-rods are made vertically movable in the main cross-head. Thisconstruction may, however, be modified. For instance, in the modifiedconstruction represented in Fig. 4 the upper ends of the connecting-rodsare connected to the main crosshead by links J. In the constructionrepresented in Figs. l and 2 the compensating' pressure is derived froma fluid acting upon a piston in a compensating cylinder. Springpressuremay be substituted for the fluidpressure, as represented in Fig. 4, inwhich K represents a coil-spring, which surrounds a vertical presser-rodL. The spring bears with its upper end against a collar Z, secured tothe presser-rodV L, and With its lower end against a cross-head M,movablymounted upon the lower end of the presser-rod and' connected toears m m, formed on the vertical guide-frame by boltsN N. By tighteningor loosening the boltsthe tension ofthe spring can be regulated.

I claim as my invention-- l. The combination, With the main cylinder,its piston and piston-rod, and a compensating presser-rod arranged at anangle to the main piston-rod, of a connecting-rod movably attached tothe piston-rod and the presser-rod,

and a guide whereby the angle of the connectin g-rod is modified toproducea uniform movement of the main piston, substantially as setforth.

2. rI'he combination, with the main pistonrod and a compensatingpresser-rod arranged at an angle to the main piston-rod, of a connectingrod pivoted with one end to said presser-rod and movablyattached withits opposite end to said piston-rod, and a guide whereby the upper endof the connecting-rod is shifted so that its angle is modified duringthe stroke of the piston-rod,` substantially as set forth.

The combination, with the main pistonrod having a reciprocating movementand a compensating presser-rod having a reciprocating movement at rightangles to the main piston-rod, of a connecting-rod pivoted at one `endto the presser-rod and movably attached at its opposite end tothe mainpiston-rod, and a guide-frame [provided with an undulating guide,against which the movable end of the connecting-rod bears, whereby theangle of the connecting-rod is modified during the reciprocatingmovement of the main piston-rod, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the main pistonrod provided with slidingbearing-blocks, of a compensating piston-rod, a connecting-rod pivotedwith its opposite ends to said bearing-blocks, and thecompensating rodand a guide frame having an undulating guide which shifts the slidingblocks during the stroke of the main piston-rod, substantially as setforth.

5. The combination, with the main pistonrod having a cross-head providedwith guideways and sliding bearing-blocks arranged in said Ways, of a`compensating piston-rod arranged at right an glcs to the mainpiston-rod, a connecting-rod pivoted at one end to the compensating rodand pivoted Withits opposite end to the sliding bearing-blocks by a pin,a guideframe provided with an undulated guide, and a roller mounted onsaid pin and resting against said guide, substantially as set forth.

fitness my hand this 31st day of August., 1891.

FRANZ F. NICKEL.

Tlvitnesses:

J No. J. BONNER, FRED. C. Gnvnn.

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